'The Mummy' Movie Review

'The Mummy'
Cast: Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella, Annabelle Wallis, Russell Crowe, Courtney B Vance, Jake Johnson
Director: Alex Kurtzman
Rating:

Alex Kurtzman's franchise reboot origin story has a fresh horror enabled look, is an elementary part of Universal's re-launch of their 'Dark Universe' series, but it's not one that is completely entertaining or interesting for that matter.

Kurtzman's film is not exactly a remake of either previous 1932 Boris Karloff starrer or the goofy and boyishly charming 1999 Brendan Fraser led adventure - but it tells a familiar story of the resurrection of a mummified Egyptian. The names may have changed but the characters inhibiting this strange universe are more or less the same.

The lead player in this sorry misadventure, Nick Morton (Tom Cruise) is a selfish scoundrel who wears an army nameplate but is more interested in stealing priceless antiquities. His unwilling accomplice Chris Vale (Jake Johnson) bears the brunt of his notoriety by being the first one to be possessed when an ancient, cursed Egyptian Princess Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella) gets resurrected and restarts her search for the Chosen one - a vessel to be inhabited by Set, the Egyptian god of war and chaos. Annabelle Wallis fills in with her own dead-pan version of Professor of Antiquities, Jenny Halsey.

I can still remember the Brendan Fraser version which had an all-pervasive sense of fun and adventure with some horror effects thrown in for good measure. The balance there was just right. In this Kurtzman version, it's all going haywire with way too much action, the darkness all-pervading and very little room for playfulness or levity. Ahmanet's all over the place and her back story suggests vengeance but the narrative is all about the unholy quest for power.

The all-too-brief parlays into comedy (between Nick and Chris) barely stirs up interest.The narrative flashes feel repetitive, coherence is questionable and the power of the evil spirit comes across as doubtful. Ahmanet in fact, gets trapped by Dr. Henry Jekyll's (Russell Crowe) team of scientists and soldiers known as Prodigium, and her repeated assaults on those trying to excavate her are pretty much laughable. A bejeweled dagger is the most coveted object in this exasperating universe. That, Six credited screenwriters and three editors could not make more of this hodgepodge action horror comedy is such a pity. This callow outing for stars like Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe, Annabelle Wallis, is big and slick, typically Hollywood, but it's no fun at all.

WATCH 'THE MUMMY' TRAILER